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Aug 3, 2017

The rules of the game don’t apply off the field in this first Barons novel.

New
York Barons tight end Gavin Brawley is suspended from the team and on
house arrest after a video of him brawling goes viral. Gavin already has
a reputation as a jerk with a temper on and off the field—which doesn’t
help him once he finds himself on the wrong side of the law. And while
he’s been successful professionally, he’s never been lucky when it comes
to love.

Noah Monroe is a recent college grad looking for a
job—any job—to pay off his mounting student debt. Working as Gavin’s
personal assistant/babysitter seems like easy money. But Noah isn’t
prepared for the electrifying tension between him and the football
player. He’s not sure if he’d rather argue with Gavin or tackle him to
the floor. But both men know the score, and neither is sure what will
happen once Gavin's timeout is over…

Illegal Contact is a sports-related romance and I liked it.
That's a sentence I don't write often, probably because I hardly ever
read them. However, Illegal Contact is Santino Hassell's sports romance, and that I had to read.

The
first book about the Barons introduced Gavin Brawley, the team's tight
end who was in trouble with the law. Gavin wasn't a charismatic athlete
beloved by the fans. No, his fan mail was mostly hate mail. He was known
as an asshole. He had a bad relationship with the media, and an
infamous Brawley glare, and when the Barons would win thanks to him,
people would begrudgingly give him credit for it. When a video of his
confrontation with some guy, a confrontation that included punches, went
viral, he got suspended for a whole season and six months of house
arrest. Not being allowed to leave his house for so long meant he had to
hire a personal assistant. That brought Noah Monroe into the picture.

Noah
was jobless and drowning in debt. He was living with his dad who had
also lost his job and had no savings. Being a PA for a football player
under house arrest wasn't a position he wished to fill, but after his
last employment ended badly for him, he couldn't be picky. He was,
however, prickly. Even during his interview he argued with Gavin. It was
their first of many rather amusing arguments. When it came to football,
Noah was ambivalent. It's something we have in common, Noah and I. That
would change for him over time, at least about the Barons. And even I
can't deny wanting Gavin and his best friends Simeon and Marcus to lead
the Barons to victory.

Gavin and Noah had six months to spend in
the same house. The first part of it, they spend arguing, and at times
avoiding each other. They were also getting to know each other, and that
was the time they were trying really hard to hide the growing
attraction between them. Noah was undeniably attracted to Gavin from the
get-go, but the more he learned about him, he grew to like him. I grew
to like him, too. Under the gruff exterior, Gavin was a football player
who loved the game, and felt it had saved his life. His fan mail wasn't
only hate mail; he received letters from kids in the foster system who
loved football and dreamed of going pro like Gavin did, and with Noah's
assistance, Gavin found a way to help those kids. Gavin was also a loyal
friend. My favorite part of the book was with Gavin, Noah and his
besties Simeon and Marcus joking and teasing like best friends do. It
was his loyalty to Simeon that had him going after that guy from the
video which resulted in him missing the entire season, and spending
months in his barely furnished house. Thanks to Noah, the public got to
meet another side of Gavin. He went from having an infamous Brawley
glare to a smile that charmed the fans so much that #DatBrawleySmile
started trending.

The romance between Noah and Gavin progressed
slowly. They really got together in the last third of the book, but in
this case I didn't mind that at all. I enjoyed the buildup too much to
mind. They spent the second third of Gavin's sentence in a blissful
bubble, and the bubble burst when they had to face the harsh reality of
what their relationship would be like after his house arrest was over,
because Gavin's bisexuality was hidden from the public eye, and if it
came out, it could ruin his career. Having to hide all the time and
living in fear a paparazzo would still manage to take a picture of the
two of them which would probably mean the end to Gavin's playing
football wasn't an option for Noah, so he did what he felt was the right
thing to do: he left. Everything was going so well with them, I kind of
expected it would be smooth sailing to the very end. Once they realized
the implications of being together long-term, it was like my own bubble
burst.

Luckily for Gavin and Noah, and me, Illegal Contact
is a romance which means their separation wasn't of a permanent nature.
The story ended with them back in their sexy little bubble, but what
happened to them after they joined the rest of the world is what I am
wondering now. I hope the next book Down by Contact will not only
be a treat with Simeon as a main character, but that it'll also satisfy
my curiosity about Noah and Gavin and see if DatBrawleySmile is still
charming the Barons fans.

***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

Jul 22, 2017

In the sordid streets
of Victorian London, unwanted desire flares between two bitter enemies
brought together by a deadly secret.

Crusading journalist
Nathaniel Roy is determined to expose spiritualists who exploit the
grief of bereaved and vulnerable people. First on his list is the
so-called Seer of London, Justin Lazarus. Nathaniel expects him to be a
cheap, heartless fraud. He doesn’t expect to meet a man with a sinful
smile and the eyes of a fallen angel—or that a shameless swindler will
spark his desires for the first time in years.

Justin feels no
remorse for the lies he spins during his séances. His gullible clients
simply bore him. Hostile, disbelieving, utterly irresistible Nathaniel
is a fascinating challenge. And as their battle of wills and wits heats
up, Justin finds he can’t stop thinking about the man who’s determined
to ruin him.

But Justin and Nathaniel are linked by more than
their fast-growing obsession with one another. They are both caught up
in an aristocratic family’s secrets, and Justin holds information that
could be lethal. As killers, fanatics, and fog close in, Nathaniel is
the only man Justin can trust—and, perhaps, the only man he could love.

Sometimes you read a review copy of a book, and for whatever reason it
takes you ages to actually review it. You realize it's been so long
since you read the book you can't properly write about it, so you read
the book again. And sometimes, if you're lucky, you end up loving it
more the second time around. I was lucky with An Unnatural Vice. The first time I really liked it. This time I really, really liked it.

I had a strong feeling this series would get more interesting, and I was right. Sins of the Cities
continues, and gets wonderfully more complicated... and foggier. I
never would have guessed I would enjoy reading about the dreadful London
fog, but when it brought two lonely hearts together, the foul murkiness
didn't seem that bad. Especially since the hearts in question belonged
to Nathaniel Roy and Justin Lazarus.

While Nathaniel played a part in the previous book, An Unseen Attraction,
Justin Lazarus was only mentioned by name, after which he was called a
"damned fraud" by none other than Nathaniel, so imagine my surprise
followed by excitement when I read the blurb for An Unnatural Vice,
and saw Nathaniel's love interest would be the damned fraud. I just
knew I'd be in for a treat. I adored Clem and Rowley from the previous
installment, but Justin and Nathaniel's story was more my speed.
Adversaries who become lovers, and whose fights are like foreplay -- oh,
yes, it's always a lot of fun to read.

Nathaniel and Justin
started off on the wrong foot, to say the least. Nathaniel was a
journalist with strong opinions on right and wrong, a journalist
determined to expose Justin and his profession as false. Justin was a
spiritualist to whom people came wanting to communicate with the dead,
and who had no qualms about lying to his visitors and taking their money
afterwards. His usual clients bored him, and Nathaniel was a welcome
challenge. Nathaniel had been grieving for his lover for years. He
hadn't felt attraction for another man since Tony, but then his visits
to the Seer of London changed that. He wanted that damned fraud, which
was unsettling as was Justin's ability to guess what lay deep in
Nathaniel's heart. The seance didn't end well. That could have been the
last they saw of each other had there not been trouble brewing in the
foggy city streets.

The mystery from An Unseen Attraction
continued in this book. The secrets and crimes surrounding Clem's
family were increasing in number, as there were more and more people
claiming to have a right to the family fortune, some of which were
willing to go to great lengths to achieve it, even resort to torture and
murder. Two of those unsavory characters would find their way to Justin
Lazarus and demand his help in tracking the heir to the title by using
his ability to talk to the dead. Justin's performance wasn't
satisfactory which in turn put his life in danger. Justin had made it
his mission to never depend on anyone, so when the time came he needed
help, he had no one to ask for it. Except Nathaniel.

Running away
from murderers brought Nathaniel and Justin to a place where they had
plenty of time to spend in each other's company and to clear the air.
They had time for discussions and arguments, and enough privacy to make
up afterwards. It was my favorite part of the novel. With each book by
KJ Charles, I'm impressed with how she handles bringing two very
different characters together, and Nathaniel and Justin couldn't have
been more different.

An Unnatural Vice left Justin and
Nathaniel in a good place. Well, not counting the murderer that's still
on the loose. The person not in a good place at all was Mark. I can't
wait to read his story in An Unsuitable Heir, and finally see how
this mystery unravels, but mostly to see what happens between Mark and
the heir. It'll be a great conclusion to the series, I know it!

***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

My review of the first book can be found here.Until next time, happy reading!

Jul 10, 2017

He’s loved me since the day I was born.He’s taken care of me.He’s awakened me.

Tor. My father’s best friend.Fifteen years older than me, he’s always been my protector.The one I should never, ever want.But I was born to be his.

She’s always loved me.She’s shattered me.She’s healed me.

Kenzi. My best friend’s daughter.I held her the day she was born, and I never let go.She’s forbidden to me. But she’s the only one that really gets me.We’re slowly being torn apart by everything we love.Everything we want.Everything we desire.

And now I want the one thing I can’t have... I want her.

** Please note: There is no underage sex in this book. This is a romance. **

MY RATING:

MY REVIEW:

Taboo romance lovers, behold!

So, in the morning I was browsing this list ’11 taboo books you should read’ or something like that and this one was on it. By that evening, I was already reading this. Never mind that I have 100 other books to read. Taboo books are my weakness.

As Drake would say:

Anyhow, this was unexpectedly good. A lot of books try to sell themselves as taboo, but you don’t feel that forbidden factor. Here I felt it all. There is the age difference of 15 years between Tor and Kenzie, plus he’s her father’s best friend and he helped raise her. So you can see how it’s all very tricky.

I think all relationships start with an invisible line, and even though we can’t see it, we all know it’s there because we can feel it. We respect that line because it keeps the bounds of the relationship intact. The line guides us within our relationships and dictates who is our friend, who is our family, who is our lover, who is someone we can or can’t trust.

But I loved how everything was handled; there is a slow transition from family to friends to lovers. They don’t get together too fast and I love that. They struggle with their feelings and attraction towards each other.

Ah, the sexual tension, the angst, it was all so very hot and emotional.

I feel sick.I feel twisted.I feel unhinged with want for her.

So yeah, this book will make you uncomfortable, but if you’re like me, and like these books that dance on the edge of appropriate, you’ll like this.

Jun 27, 2017

We met on a Tuesday. Became best friends, then lovers, on a Tuesday. And everything fell apart on a Tuesday...

Charlotte Taylor has three automatic strikes in my book: 1) She hates me. She also claims that I'm a "domineering jerk with a huge, overbearing ego." (I do have something huge. It's not my ego, though.) 2) She takes our mandatory tutoring sessions way too seriously. 3) She's sexy as hell...And a virgin. At least, those were her strikes before our study sessions started lasting longer than they were supposed to. Until one innocent kiss became a hundred dirty ones, and until she became the first woman I ever fell hard for. Our future together after graduation was supposed to be set: Professional football for me. Law school for her. But she left me at the end of the semester with no explanation, and then she completely disappeared from my life. Until tonight.

We met on a Tuesday. Became everything, then nothing, on a Tuesday. And now it's seven years later, on a Tuesday...

This is a full-length second-chance romance inspired by Adele's "When We Were Young".

Jun 8, 2017

A childhood accident
left Emmaline vulnerable to disturbing fugue states that last only
minutes, but feel like an eternity. The blackouts are unsettling but
manageable until she meets Johnny Dellasandro.

The reclusive painter
gained notoriety in the '70s for his debauched lifestyle and raunchy art
films. His naked body has achieved cult status, especially in Emm's
mind she's obsessed with the man, who's grown even sexier with age.
Today Johnny shuns the spotlight and Emm in particular until she falls
into a fugue on his doorstep.In that moment she's transported
back thirty years, crashing a party at Johnny's place in his wild-man
heyday the night is a blur of flesh and heat that lingers on her skin
long after she's woken to the present.It happens again and again,
each time-slip another mind-blowing orgy, and soon Emm can't stop,
though every episode leaves her weaker and weaker. She's frightened by
what's happening to her, but she's even more terrified of losing this
portal to the Johnny she wants so badly. The one who wants her, too, and
takes her every chance he gets.

Nothing scarier than getting to the last third of Megan Hart's book, and reading that the main characters are just fine.

As
I've already said a thousand times, I am a huge Megan Hart fan. For
good reason. With her books, it's not a question whether or not I'll
like the book, but how much I'll like it. Collide is one of those I really liked.

This is Emmaline's story.
Emm is a new resident in Harrisburg, a familiar place in Hart's novels.
A lot of her fictional characters live there and cross paths with
whoever it is I'm reading about at the time. I love those cameos, but
back to Emm. When she was a child she suffered an accident which left
her vulnerable to fugue states. In reality she'd black out while in her
mind she was experiencing something else. At thirty-two, after being
free from fugue states for a longer time, she's finally living
independently. New town, new job, new friend, and then a new crush:
Johnny Dellasandro.

Johnny is an artist and an art
gallery owner who likes to keep to himself, but in the seventies he was a
famous movie star with a famous body often on display in his films.
Jen, Emm's friend, is already a fan who knows a lot about him. Emm
becomes one soon afterwards. She's attracted to and intrigued by him.
Her internet searches become more Johnny-oriented, as do her film
choices. She became a bit obsessed by him, I'd say. Well, more than a
bit, actually. I found it a little odd, her sudden intense interest in
him. But, I went along with it in the hopes it would all make sense
after a while.

Crossing paths with Johnny has another effect on
Emm -- her fugues return, and this time in all of them he's there. The
young Johnny with whom Emm is more free, more brave, and who is more
into Emm than the present Johnny seems to be. Though she has more luck
with the dream Johnny than the real one, she wasn't giving up until she
wore him down, so to speak. At that time, I still had my doubts about
this couple. They were one big question mark. There was just something
not quite clear.

All my questions flew out of my head when I was
two thirds into the book, and Emm said everything was fine. It was a
terrifying sentence. This is Megan Hart we're talking about: creator of
worlds, destroyer of worlds. Up until that point I took my time reading Collide,
but that sentence freaked me out so much that I read and I read until I
got to the end. Sure, it was five o'clock in the morning when I
finished reading it, but at least I was able to sleep in peace
afterwards. That was the part where it all clicked into place.
Everything that didn't make a lot of sense, everything I found weird, I
saw in a new light, and I understood.

This is one of Megan
Hart's paranormal romances. Truth be told, the romance was a lot more
important to me than the paranormal aspect of the story. I didn't want
to overthink the paranormal stuff. You could say I adopted the heroine's
take on what was happening: None of this made sense, yet it made perfect sense. All I had to do was suspend my disbelief. So I did, because in the end I all cared about was that Emm and Johnny got an ending belonging in a romance novel.

What stories would you tell if you could? Where would your mind take you, if you let it? Five of the top voices in romance dare you to explore the most distant corners of their imaginations as they test the limits of storytelling and break the boundaries of what even they thought possible, teasing and tormenting you shamelessly as they go.

But there’s a twist—the author of each story is a secret at the time of release. They’re each plumbing the depths of the human heart and mind in ways they’ve never attempted before. Taking you high, bringing you low, until you will be hardpressed to guess who wrote what. Can you tell? Want us to?

Too bad our lips are sealed . . . for now.

Lost That Feeling

Alma knew who she was, once—that is, before she erased her memory with a spell. Some, like the guards at the prison in which she’s held, say that she was a thief, a murderer.

Others say she was a hero. Like Driss, the man who rescues her. He claims to be a friend. He's certainly handsome. And charming. And brave. In a word: perfect.

That's the problem. If he's perfect and she's a hero, how did she end up in prison with a seven-year hole in her memory to begin with?

A Clear View of You

As a child, Kate had one dream: to escape her mother’s deluded hippie commune and live in the real world, where mature adults know that magic isn’t real. But the real world also has its downsides—like rent, student loans, and a cutthroat job market.

Happily, Kate is uniquely qualified for one in-demand position: psychic. Of course, she’s as fake as the rest of them, but nobody plays a fortune-teller as convincingly as a girl raised by a would-be witch. If only Kate’s newest client weren’t so perceptive . . . and attractive. If only crystal balls didn’t have the habit of lighting up in his presence.

Magic isn’t real, right? Kate is about to find out otherwise . . .

Free

Brad White would be an ordinary accountant with an unrequited crush except for two things: he works for a criminal motorcycle club, and he’s in love with the club president’s daughter. When she discovers the truth about the family business, Brad has to move beyond ordinary and put his life on the line to keep her safe.

Wren Masters, unlike everyone else in her graduating class, chose to stay in Fallow, Montana because, also unlike everyone else, she loves it. But when she finds out her father’s club is running drugs, her family and world crumble. She and Brad risk everything to uncover the truth . . . and begin a scorching affair.

As the conspiracy—and their feelings—deepen, Brad and Wren must choose between family and justice. And neither seems to include a future for them.

Chariot of Desire

CJ Crespo, drummer for the once wildly popular rock band Donjon, has always had a thing for frontman Donny Times. They spent the seventies getting high together, making music together, self-destructing together. But her qualms about ruining a creative partnership with sex kept them from ever hooking up. Now, Donny’s conversion to a bizarre fringe religion that won’t allow him to engage in—or even sing about—sex, drugs, or other “sins” threatens to tear Donjon apart.

As the band struggles to embrace a new decade and a new Donny, CJ must decide where she belongs: by Donny’s side, even if he can’t ever love her? Or out there making her own music, away from a man who gives and takes in equal measures?

The Heart is a Universe

On the remote planet of Pax Cara lies the greatest secret of the universe. Once every generation, the inhabitants must offer up an exceptional young person—the Chosen One—who sacrifices his or her own life for the sake of that secret, and the planet itself.

However, Vitalis, the current Chosen One, is desperate to free herself from the yoke of destiny. An unexpected invitation to an aristocratic summit seems to be the perfect opportunity for escape. But almost as soon as she arrives, the most eligible prince in existence proposes marriage.

Sparks fly, but Vitalis is wary. Eleian of Terra Illustrata can have any woman he wants. Why has he set his sight on Vitalis, who, unless she manages to flee, will die in sixteen days? Is he hiding an ulterior motive, one that could put everything in jeopardy—her plans, her life, and her heart?

About the book, from the introduction:

We all have auto-buy authors, but what is the promise made by the name on the book cover? Is it about voice? About a certain type of story? About how reading it will make you feel?

If we took that name away, would you even still recognize it?

That question is where Sight Unseen began: gather five authors, publish an anthology in which each novella is anonymous, and see if readers can correctly connect the stories with the authors.

The concept didn’t stop there because once you remove the name from the story, it’s free in a way other writing isn’t. There’s no brand to worry about, no expectations to meet. The writing has to stand by itself.

The project took on a life of its own, becoming an experiment wrapped in a puzzle. It offered a space to play for authors and a game for readers, but it raises questions for all of us about how brand and marketing shape books, how we read, and what we think we like.

Because it would be maddening to never learn who wrote what, Sight Unseen comes with an end date. Three months after release, the authors of the stories collected here will be revealed. But in the meantime, we offer five intriguingly different stories. Each is unsigned, but also smart, sexy, offbeat, and most importantly, surprising.

Let the speculation begin.

**Use hashtag #SUwho to follow in the fun of guessing which author wrote what!**

About the Authors:

Emma Barry

Emma Barry is a novelist, full-time mama, and recovering academic. When she’s not reading or writing, she loves hugs from her twins, her husband’s cooking, her cat’s whiskers, her dog’s tail, and Earl Grey tea. You can find her on the web at www.authoremmabarry.com.

Meredith Duran

Meredith Duran is the author of eleven novels, all published by Pocket Books. Her debut, The Duke of Shadows, has been translated into thirteen languages and together with her sophomore book, Bound by Your Touch, was ranked among the top 100 romances of all time in the 2010 All About Romance poll. Her other books include RITA award winner Fool Me Twice; Wicked Becomes You, which was included on Woman's World list of Best Beach Reads for Summer 2010; and her February 2017 release, A Lady's Code of Misconduct, which both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly called “flawlessly executed” in their starred reviews.

Meredith blames Anne Boleyn for sparking her lifelong obsession with British history, and for convincing her that princely love is no prize if it doesn’t come with a happily-ever-after. When not writing, Meredith enjoys collecting old etiquette manuals, guidebooks to nineteenth century London, and travelogues by intrepid Victorian women.

J.A. Rock is the author or coauthor of over twenty LGBTQ romance, suspense, and horror novels, as well as an occasional contributor to HuffPo Queer Voices. J.A. has received Lambda Literary and INDIEFAB Award nominations for Minotaur, and The Subs Club received the 2016 National Leather Association-International Pauline Reage Novel Award. J.A. lives in Chicago with an extremely judgmental dog, Professor Anne Studebaker.

Erin Satie is the author of the dark and elegant No Better Angels series, historical romances set in the early Victorian period. She’s currently hard at work on her upcoming series, Sweetness & Light, which should be just as elegant but not quite so dark.

Erin is a California native who’s lived on the coasts and in the heartland, in tiny city apartments and on a working farm. She studied art history in both college and graduate school—research is always her favorite part of starting a new book.

Her favorite part of finishing a book, whether reading or writing, is the happily ever after.

USA Today-bestselling author Sherry Thomas loves intricate plots, explosive action, and combustible love stories. She has written romance, fantasy, mystery, and a wuxia-inspired duology. Her books regularly receive starred reviews and best-of-the-year honors from trade publications, including such outlets as the New York Times and National Public Radio. She is also a two-time winner of Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA® Award.